KIA's charge leader is back... Wisdom-Kim Do-young has a runner in front, Park Chan-ho's upgrade is underway
KIA's charge leader is back... Wisdom-Kim Do-young has a runner in front, Park Chan-ho's upgrade is underway
Blog Article
Kia, which showed off its might as the strongest batting lineup in the league last year, is struggling as its hitting power has declined significantly this year. As of Tuesday, it has 16 wins and 18 losses in the first 34 games of this season, which is less than a 50% win rate. There is no doubt that the team needs to revive its batting lineup if it wants to stage a big counterattack.스포츠토토
Since there is no score, the mound is also in a hurry, and if the difference in score is not large, the main pitchers are likely to consume more. In fact, this year's KIA is losing games even though it uses must-win groups such as Cho Sang-woo, which is a proportion compared to last year. There are points where the mound needs to be reorganized, but only when the hit survives can they approach their original dream.
In the early days of the season, many players were injured, and Na Sung-bum (calf) is still missing. Key players Kim Do-young (hamstring), Park Chan-ho (knee), and Kim Sun-bin (calf) have been sidelined due to injuries since the beginning of the season. Amid the three players' departure, the team also suffered from difficulties as batting order changed several times. However, the three players returned one after another, and expectations are rising that they will gain explosive power from May.
Among them, leadoff Park Chan-ho's offensive performance, who plays his part as a charging leader, is also steadily improving, relieving the bench of anxiety. Park Chan-ho has a batting average of 0.284, one homer, nine RBIs, five steals, and an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 0.740 in 26 games of the season until the 6th. Park Chan-ho, who had a batting average of .300 over the past two years, has a slightly lower batting average this year compared to the past two years, but his on-base percentage is higher on the contrary. It should also be taken into account that this year has a tendency to throw pitches compared to the past two years.
At the beginning of the season, the flow was cut off due to injuries, and there were also difficulties, such as catching a well-hit ball. There were parts where luck did not follow. However, luck also converges to the average, and in recent years, both batting average and on-base percentage continue to rise. In particular, the rise in the on-base rate is noteworthy.
The gap between the batting average and the on-base percentage was not that big for Park. The net on-base percentage (on-base percentage) in 2023 was 0.055, and 0.056 in 2024. He was a batter who hits rather than a walk. However, his walk percentage has improved a lot this year, perhaps because he adapted to the leadoff position. Park's walk rate in 2023 was 7.9 percent and 8.3 percent in 2024, which was not what we think of as typical leadoff, but it has risen to 13.4 percent this year. As a result, his on-base percentage this season is 0.382, a career-high, and far exceeds his career-high (.324). He also has a net on-base percentage of 0.098.
Even in recent years, he has contributed to the team's offense with a lot of on-base hits. His batting average in the last 10 games has been strong at 0.314, and he has added seven walks to it. Nine out of the last 10 games have been games with two outs or more. Considering that there have been four multi-hit games out of 10, the increase in walks is also noticeable. Even if you can't get out with a hit, you're offsetting the disappointment by walking. At the beginning of the season, there were not many attempts to steal, maybe in the aftermath of a knee injury, but in the last four games, he has been stealing three times, showing good mobility.
KIA manager Lee Bum-ho stressed several times that Park Chan-ho's on-base percentage of 0.370 is sufficient as a leadoff. The team slightly fell short of this standard over the past two years, but this year it will surpass this standard. Despite some controversies, the current record shows no problem to deploy as a leadoff player. In terms of on-base percentage (over 100 at-bats) this year, the team ranks fourth after Jihoon Choi (SSG), Hong Chang-ki (LG), and Chung Soo-bin (Doosan). The on-base percentage is higher than the league average.
KIA is agonizing over various aspects to achieve explosive batting performance. Recently, the team raised its foreign batter Patrick Wisdom, who has both slugging power and on-base percentage, to No. 2. The team focuses more on on the on-base ability than on the ability to solve the problem. As Kim Do-young has returned and is gradually improving his batting condition, Wisdom and Kim Do-young's No. 2 and No. 3 can put considerable pressure on the opponent. If Park Chan-ho gets on the base and remains the runner, this pressure will double. With Kia's batting lineup now an important condition to regain explosive power, as Park Chan-ho settles on track, all of Kia's concerns are being erased.